Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers’ Expectations of Teacher’s Manuals Accompanying General English and Pronunciation Skills Books

Abstract

This study explores native and nonnative English-speaking teachers’ expectations of teacher’s manuals accompanying general English skills books and pronunciation teaching books, as well as their impressionistic evaluation of a printed and online teacher’s manual. The study has a mixed-methods design incorporating an online survey and 2 interviews. Findings showed that teachers expected a teacher’s manual to provide additional guidance on which pronunciation features to teach and how to present them effectively. The online teacher’s manual was preferred over the printed one by most of the teachers because of its technological design features. This study suggests that both native and nonnative English-speaking teachers welcome online manuals because of their increased accessibility and practicality. Additionally, greater amounts of guidance can be given in an online teacher’s manual and this guidance can be presented in different modalities, such as in printable text, audio, or video.